CHAMPCAR/CART: Dinner A La Cart Promotion

Dinner A La CART
DETROIT -- On April 18, more than 40 million Sunday newspaper readers will
have a chance to win a meal home-cooked by three of the world's best
racecar drivers.
Championship Auto Racing Teams' latest promotion, Dinner a la...

Dinner A La CART

DETROIT -- On April 18, more than 40 million Sunday newspaper readers will
have a chance to win a meal home-cooked by three of the world's best
racecar drivers.

Championship Auto Racing Teams' latest promotion, Dinner a la CART, will
give a lucky reader and five of his or her friends the opportunity to win
a meal prepared by three top Champ Car drivers. The FedEx Championship
Series drivers committed to cook for the winner are: Scotland's Dario
Franchitti of Team KOOL Green, who won three Champ Car races in 1998;
Christian Fittipaldi, driver of the Big Kmart Ford Swift, who finished
third twice a year ago; and McDonald's Championship Racing's Tony Kanaan,
who was the series' Rookie of the Year in 1998.

CART launches this Free Standing Insert (FSI) promotion in weekly
newspaper coupon sections around the country on the same day as the Toyota
Grand Prix of Long Beach, Round 3 of the 20-race FedEx Championship
Series.

Chef America, makers of Croissant Pockets, will include a coupon for
special savings in the four-color FSI. Croissant Pockets offer delicious
fillings in a bakery-style croissant crust.

For the second-straight year, CART contracted with Valassis
Communications, Inc. of Livonia, Mich., and Chicago-based Marketing
Events, a division of Frankel and Co., to create an FSI-based promotion
that features the three drivers.

"One of our key objectives is to raise awareness of Champ Car racing and
our drivers among females and ultimately give them opportunities to become
fans of our sport," said CART's director of promotion, Jeff Gooding. "We
believe Dinner a la CART is a fun and novel concept that helps us
accomplish our objective.

"This program takes our drivers away from the track and places them in
another environment -- one-on-one with potential fans. Drivers cooking for
the winner at their home is the type of fun and involving activity we
think current and potential Champ Car fans will respond to."

Valassis Communications published the coupon inserts and is securing
distribution, while Marketing Events secured advertisers for the program.
According to Roper Starch Worldwide Research Studies, FSI coupon inserts
are the second-most-read section of Sunday newspapers throughout the
country.

Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. (NYSE: MPH) owns, operates and
markets the FedEx Championship Series, which is comprised of 20 races in
five countries on four continents in 1999. Drivers such as Michael
Andretti, Adrian Fernandez, Dario Franchitti, Bryan Herta, Greg Moore, Al
Unser Jr, and Jimmy Vasser race 900-plus horsepower, open-wheel cars at
speeds of more than 240 miles per hour on some circuits. CART also owns
and operates its top two development series, the PPG-Dayton Indy Lights
Championship and the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Championship.